I/m not a supporter of the death penalty, but the case of Jason King, sentenced to just 24 years, does start to try my position.

Jason King, 38, from Balfour Street in Newtownards, County Down, was told that he was every parent’s worst nightmare.

Mr Justice Gillen said he considered King’s case to be “probably the worst instance of multiple child abuse” that he had come across.

He was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court after being convicted on 58 counts.

These included nine rapes and 25 indecent assaults which dated from 1986 when he separated from his wife.

King was said to have groomed and preyed on the schoolgirls, aged between 12 and up to 15. Two of them became pregnant.

Mr Justice Gillen instructed that he sign the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life and barred him from ever working with children.

He also stipulated that in order to protect the public from King, believed to be at high risk of reoffending, would be released on licence.

I’m firmly of the belief that King should never be released; he will always be a danger to children, why should another child suffer at his hands?